New England Mod & Meetup Renaissance group

I'm fine right now with either day. I'm up to date on maintenance, though before then I should probably pull a wheel and look at my front pads at 53K

 

You swing by me I'll do another round on it, lol. Though it is far as hell.

 

My diffs and motor oil is good but I definitely need to do my tcase and a drain n fill ATF. If you do swing by and swap plugs I can lend you a hand @GarlicFarts. Sounds like Sunday is the day, works for me

 

I'm a maybe...

I might just have my buddy bang out the tacoma(diffs and tcase)... I'm at 55k. And running out of warm weather, with a TON of stuff to do... still waiting on truck to come back from the body shop, and still have new steering box and hydro assist to install as well...plus winch in tacoma.. yard work... ugh...

 

Man I’m dying to get to one of these but have obligations Saturday and work Sunday. I’m so damn close too haha. Maybe I can swing by mid day if it ends up being Saturday.

 

What time do you work on Sundays?

 

Just went through the pain last week. Replaced the rack and hoses and replaced the ujoint in the intermediate shaft with the ATV ujoint mod on the forum(had the frozen joint that I had been milking along for several months with PB blaster).
Used new A1 Cardone rack and new aftermarket hoses.
Bought two new (Toyota OEM) bolts for the rack, sawed through the old ones about 50% an snapped them off with impact gun. Reinstalled the new ones upside down for easier access next time.
Full thread is on the fourm and you said you have done it before but here were my issues.

Disconnected the battery, worried about the airbags while jacking with the steering shaft.
Removed the wheels.
Flushed the fluid prior to changing (disconnected the return line to the reservoir, put the return line in an old water bottle and turned the wheel back and forth several times and kept filling the reservoir up until new fluid came out ), hoping to get all the crap out prior to change.
Secured the steering wheel with seat belt.
Removed the outer tie rods.
Removed the hose clamps and hose connections I could get to.
Dropped the front of the sway bar.
Supported the tranny and removed the front bolt for the tranny mount. Don't know if it helped but saw it in a video on the steering rack swap thread.
Removed the intermediate shaft (had to unsecure the wheel and rotate so I could get a socket and wobblly extension on the lower screw thru the (front left front wheel well) to get the intermediate shaft off. Re-secured the wheel again (with seat belt)and removed the two upper screws to the intermediate shaft (used ALOT of PB blaster on these bolts and shaft to get it to slide upwards. Used a 3lb mallet and pipe to whale on the old ujoint area to get the shaft to move, took a while, YMMV.
The supply to the rack wrapped up on me and cost me about and extra hour trying to get it out (see picture). To save time cut it close so if the hose is rusted to the connector you don't waste your time. Also, bought and used a new return fixture in case the old one was frozen in the rack, it was.
Tilted the rack back and forth and moved from side to side to remove.
Rack back in (used a video on the internet I think it is liked in the main thread, to center and mark the rack, worked like a champ very close when aligned after the reinstall).
Centered the rack using the mark from earlier and reinstalled the intermediate shaft. .
Hooked up new hoses filled reservoir. Hooked up outer tie rods (counted how many revolutions it took to remove and put back on with the same number for each respective side, after the steering rack was centered) bled and flushed again with new fluid.
Reinstalled the tranny support bolts.
Bled the system by turning the wheel back and forth with engine off and front still off the ground. Reconnected the return line and ensured the fluid was at the cold mark.
Inspected for leaks then reinstalled the sway bar front brackets.
Reinstalled the wheels. Reconnected the battery.
Removed jack stands, started the vehicle , looked for leaks. drove up the driveway and made a small turn left and right, stopped and checked for leaks.
When to a short test drive, intermediate shaft was one spline off on initial install, re adjusted the intermediate shaft (if this happens to you make sure you secure the steering wheel with seat belt) on the rack after test drive.
ABS Sensor was on for about the first 30 or so miles cleared itself after that. Had it aligned and the alignment was barely off.

 

That particular Sunday I’m working 9-5. It’s a rotating schedule

 

@Taco? Who knows
Tremendous write-up

 

thanks, I planned to cut or throw away anything i touch.
I ordered oem rack($605), return fitting ($8) and nuts and bolts($17), Gates hoses. Trq lower intermediate shaft. Might grab a new steering shaft today just so it's all new.

I'm not doing the atv ujoint mod but will be putting a boot over the joint to protect it. Filled with red n tacky of course. Still looking for a nicer boot than diy innertube.

Used rockauto for non oem, local dealer for the smalls and boch Toyota had the best price for a rack and was one of the few that didn't want a core charge.


Morning mod dayers

 

Was it not doing the core charge online? Route 44 did that with my calipers then I went and it wanted to then

 

That's a lot of work, I am impressed. how many miles did you have on your vehicle?

 

Correct, didn't ask for it online. A few other's also didn't but were way more, like $850 instead of 600. And its shipped so can't ask later.

 

144K on the vehicle. I picked it up in early 2020, has frame replaced before I bought it. Passenger side of the rack started pissing on my driveway so it was time.
Using Wool Wax now on outside of new rack so it does not look like this one in 12 years.

 

Only reason I went with the mod was the greaseable ujoint. I could not articulate the old u joint at all, and living in salt mines in the northeast, I figured it would only be a few years before the new one started exhibiting the same behavior.

 

Totally agree except I'm at 235k on the og and it got stiff once or twice. Rack is toast. I'll be replacing the new rack long before the new intermediate shaft has any issues.

Update on oem racks...national backorder

Ordered bbb rack from rockauto and a rebuild kit for the original. Should be a win-win

 

let me know if you need a hand

 

I went with the A1 Cardone with no core charge I think it was $479 ish shipped.

 

Fuuuuuuck sorry man....that sucks. You must have kicked the crap out of that thing at AOAA.......hey at least it went after AOAA and not before hand. I applaud your eagerness to take that thing on.......I heard that they are not fun. I might have you help me with mine when it comes time to do mine. Do you know how the BBB rack compares to the OEM Rack?

 

Really just seemed to be the best cheapest thing. Read that Cardone racks are becoming a crap shoot and a few members recommended bbb over the others. I think any other than oem is a crap shoot so also got the rebuild kit.
The used racks all had 80k or more on them.
Sent pretty good at aoaa but it was already going

Thanks, doesn't seem terrible if you're willing to throw away the hoses and fittings and bolts... well everything